Love isn't easy part 4
The next day Rob decided to put his mission into full gear. He started spreading a bunch of "Josie did this..." rumors in order to get her noticed. He told the guys that she dated the drummer of the band the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies because he had heard that they were their favorite band. he told the girls that Josie was very rich, because he knew that money was one of the most important things in their lives. From what Rob could tell, he was successfull. People were talking about Josie everywhere he went.
Meanwhile, Josie was noticing that people were looking at her more and due to her nature, it made her wary and self-conscious. She was on her way to Mr. Coulson's class when he Rob called her over. She went to talk to him not taking her eyes off of Guy, Jason and Gibby.
"Hey Rob, what's up?"
"Nothin', we're just hangin'. You guys have English next right?"
"Gibby, Josie and I do but this loser over here has gym." He said pointing to Jason. Jason responded in defence. "HEY!! You take gym too, besides I already had English today."
"Who's your teacher?" Gibby asked curious
"Mr. Garrifield. He's soooooo boring."
Josie all the while was looking at Rob who kept egging her on to participate in the conversation.
"Oh really? Too bad you don't have Mr. Coulson. He's a great teacher." Josie managed to say. Gibby and Guy were both looking at her and then Josie felt completely on edge. Was her love for Mr. Coulson really that transparent? Because if it was she knew she was in serious trouble.
Guy who had always noticed Josie because of how much she stuck out in a crowd, noticed her tense facial expression and wrote it off as she was nervous to be talking to the likes of him. He decided to be gracious and relieve her uneasy feeling.
"Yeah, Mr. Coulson's a really interesting teacher. I rarely get bored in that class. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying it's less frequent than with someone like Knox. Oh god how that class sucks." He then looked at Josie for a reaction and saw a touch of relief sweep across her face. He really couldn't quite figure out why popular people scared her so much. He didn't feel like thinking about it though so he pushed it out of his mind.
Little did any of them know but Mr. Coulson had been looking for Josie all morning. When he saw that she was hanging out with that Rob guy she seemed to already know and the popular kids he was thrilled and terrified all at the same time. He knew that Josie wanted to be popular, although he didn't know why, and he was petrified that they were planning something horrible that he knew they were so capable of doing. Anyways, the 2-minute bell went off and the foursome split up to go to their classes. Even though she only said one thing, Josie was thrilled to have been included.
* * * * * *
Once everyone was in English Sam focused on teaching, he had to keep staring at specific object around the room to keep his mind - and eyes - from drifting to Josie. Sam had his whole lesson plan worked out. So all he had to do was take each thing one at a time and he would get through the day just fine. Even when he tried his best, he looked at Josie many times. She was absolutely stunning, she was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt and her hair was in a simple ponytail. 'She looks so natural' Sam thought. He then remembered how Lara required a whole hour every morning to beautify herself. Everytime he thought of Lara, he was overjoyed that she was gone.
Meanwhile the class went alright, no disasters or open showings of his growing attraction to Josie. The bell rang and he was relieved that he didn't have to be so careful of how he acted.
"Oh! By the way! How many students here are participating in the students vs. teachers game on Thursday?" About 6 kids raised their hands and he saw that the only two girls were Becky and Josie. He mentally kicked himself for asking that question because now he was going to wonder for the next two days on what kind of player she would be like. Would she be a beginner? Average? A natural or even an all around all-star athlete! He could tell that he was getting worked up so he decided to get the hell out of there.
"Well, that's great! I'll see you guys then." He said giving his best sly smile. Josie now was anxious to play being grateful for another opportunity to spend time with Sam outside of his classroom. Sam rushed out of the classroom so fast that only a few students had gotten up to leave themselves. He was grateful that Mr. Garrison used his classroom during his free because he didn't feel like bothering with locking it. As Sam bolted out through the hallways, he saw Scott Romano.
"Hey Sam, what's the rush?"
"Oh, hey Scott, I'm feeling a little flustered so I'm gonna go get a coffee during my free, you wanna come?" He asked secretly hoping he wouldn't because Sam didn't want to explain the cause of his anxiety. "Gee, Sam. I wish I could but I've got a bunch of freshmen to teach now. Sorry."
"Oh, hey, don't worry about it. I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yeah man, we still on with Jon and Matt at the restaurant?" He asked just to verify the location of their meeting.
"Yup, I'll see you then." And with that, he bolted for the doors, feeling the heat rise up in him.
Sam got in his car and started to drive, not really knowing where he was going. He found himself heading for the mall with the restaurant where he was going to meet the guys for lunch. He figured he would kill some time in Starbucks, remembering he had missed his morning coffee. Maybe that was why he was so jittery? He wondered. He sat down with his Tall Cappuchino and started worrying. Sam's thoughts were immediately drawn to the fact that he had dug himself into a great big pile of shit and he didn't quite know how he was going to get out. A million questions dragged through his mind. How had he managed to fall in love with a student? Would he ever tell her? How would she react? Should he tell her? What could she possibly be feeling for him? Thinking that she most likely thought of him as nothing more than an English Literature teacher, his facial expression darkened at this realisation. And then another question hit him...hard. Could he live a life without her? Trying to rationalize his thoughts he figured that sure he could. He had done it for 25 years and he could do it again, but inevitably, his true feelings conquered. He had experienced a life with her, he did realize that it was a short time, but he knew that he couldn't go back.....not easily, that was for damn sure. Suddenly a pair of voices interrupted his thoughts:
"Sam?" He looked up to find his friend Jon and his wife Joanna looking down at him.
"Oh! Hey guys! Why aren't you at work?"
"We could ask you the same question." Jon said in a joking manner.
"Oh! Sorry, that was rude, of me. I have a spare period right now so I came here to clear my head. You guys just took long lunches?"
Joanna took her turn. "Yeah, don't worry and I'll shave my head the day that Sam Coulson is rude to someone. I have to ask something. Are you okay Sam? You were looking at that coffee like it was poison." She said with a joking smile.
Sam didn't quite know what to do now. Tell the truth? These were his best friends but what he had to say made him look horrible. He decided to go on the honest path, hoping that in the end, his friends would trust him.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to hate me?"
Jon and Joanna looked at each other skeptically, Sam was obviously very worried about something and he obviously felt that he had done something terrible.
"Sam, we're not gonna hate, you. You're my best friend. We would never abandon you in your time of need which I can quite frankly see is now. So tell me, what'd you do?" Jon said with a devilish, joking smile.
"I'm in love-"
Joanna started laughing. "Ha ha ha ! Sam, why in god's name would we hate you for that?" She then removed her smile in a mockingly serious tone "It's not Lara is it? Because I jumped for joy when you dumped her sorry ass."
Sam couldn't help smiling at his friend, the two of them really had a way of lifting someone's spirits. "No.... you didn't let me finish...but don't worry it's not Lara. I'm just as glad as you are that she's gone. I'm so ashamed that I stayed with her for so long. I was a coward for not ending it sooner."
"That's good...........SO WHO ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH?" Joanna said barely able to contain her joy.
Jon didn't fail to notice the terrified look on Sam's face as he started to respond
"I'm in love..........with a student." Sam immediately hung his head in shame. He didn't want to look at them, afraid of what they must've thought of him. Jon and Joanna had now pulled up chairs and were looking at Sam who was obviously in emotional distress.
"Sam, look at me." He slowly brought his eyes up to Jon who was determined to make him feel better. He couldn't believe that Sam would think that this thing would cause the termination of their friendship.
"I want you to know that you don't have to feel bad about this. As long as you don't like....attack her or something than you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to stress about. I mean what is the age difference, about 8 years? She's 17? You are only 25. Anna Nicole Smith was only like late 20's and she married a 90 year old!" Jon was laughing now, in a vain attempt to lighten his mood. "But seriously Sam, you wouldn't think it was weird if a 30 year old woman hooked up with a 38 year old man would you?"
"That's just the thing Jon! She's not 30, she's a teenager! A 17 year old." He made a small whimper and placed his face in his hands
Joanna, put her hand on his shoulder and took her turn at trying to make him feel better.
"Look Sam, I'll tell you the truth, when I was 15, I had the biggest crush on my physics teacher and he was in his mid-20's. EVERYONE sooner or later in their lives is attracted to someone with a significant age difference. And I'll tell you the truth. I would find it much more bizarre if you were in love with a 60 year old or something."
Sam was feeling much better now. He was happy to find that neither of them were repulsed at his behaviour.
"So Sam!" Joanna started smiling devilishly. She shifted her chair closer and said "Tell me about her."All the while smiling. She watched as a big smile washed over his dark face. He was thrilled at the opportunity to talk about Josie.
"Well, her name is Josie Geller and she just switched to the school in March. She is brilliant! I can't even begin to tell you how smart she is. And she is so nice, I can't get enough of her. When I'm home alone, I'm thinking about her, when I'm out running errands, I'm thinking about her, when I'm watching t.v., I'm thinking about her, when I'm reading, I'm reminded of her and when I'm in class, I'm staring at her." Sam said sighing a huge sigh of relief he felt as if he would explode if he hadn't gotten that out.
"Wow, that's big. I wouldn't suggest staring at her though, that can't be good for your job. But back to Josie. Have you spent any time with her?" Interjected Jon.
"Yeah, the first time I saw her outside of school was at that Delloser Club." I was talking to her and then Lara came back. After about 2 more seconds of talking, Lara left and-"
Jon suddenly interrupted "Oh! Is she the girl that Lara tried to threaten?"
"Yeah! I was so amazed and proud of Josie the way she handled Lara. She totally put her in her place. Lara was FURIOUS! Anyways I broke up with Lara that night. The next night, I went to the Senior Nite at Navy Pier and I saw Josie sitting without a partner in the ferris wheel. The carnie was yelling around for someone to sit with her and she was BEET red. So I went and sat with her."
"WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you-Sam Coulson master of the fear of heights rode a FERRIS WHEEL!?!?!?" Joanna said in total shock
"I know, I can barely believe it myself." Sam didn't really know what else to say. He was ecstatic that his friends didn't abandon him at the drop of a hat.
"Well, guys, I gotta go, I have a huge presentation in 20 minutes but let me just finish by saying Sam, don't you worry about a thing. I find it truly delightful that your fretting about it so much. That's the woman in me talking. And I know that she will find it delightful too." At that point Joanna had gotten up and gathered her things. "Oh! I'm coming to that teachers/students game thing on Thursday, I am NOT gonna pass up an opportunity to meet this goddess!" She said with a huge grin on her face. She had put her coat on and kissed Jon goodbye. She then waved bye to both of them and walked out of the coffee shop.
"Well Sam. How much longer 'til Matt and Scott come?"
"About 15 minutes." Sam said looking down at his watch.
"Great....That'll give us just enough time to talk about what your gonna do." Sam looked at Jon curiously. Did Jon have a plan? But more realistically, did Jon have a plan that Sam would be able to handle? He certainly hoped so.
"I think Sam, that you should just cool your heels for now, no matter what happens, love or no love, your number one priority is to yourself. That means, your job should play a major role in this. And by that I just mean, don't try anything. Don't tell her anything, at least not yet. The school year is over in about a month. And then you can get down on your knees and kiss her feet, it won't matter, if she rejects you, you'll never see her again, if she says yes, then you don't have to like sneak around or anything creepy like that."
"Wow. That's excellent advice. Thanks Jon. I really don't know what I would do without you, I'd probably be this mess under the table by now if it weren't for you and Jo. But don't think that of me. I would NEVER sneak around with her. With anyone. I have no respect for cheaters and liars." Sam looked at his watch. "We should probably head over to the restaurant now." The two guys got up and headed to meet their other friends.
* * *
Josie on the other hand wasn't as lucky as Sam. She had biology instead of a free period. She got up and started walking out of the classroom alone when she inadvertently ended up beside the cool group. She wondered why they bothered to walk out together because they were only together for a minute, maybe a minute and a half. She still felt very uneasy so she remained silent. Kirsten broke the brief silence.
"I hate day twos. It's the only day when we don't have Mr.C's class last period of the day. I HATE when we have to do MORE learning after him, he fills each class with too much info."
Gibby interjected:" Yeah I totally know what you mean. It's too much knowledge first thing in the morning."
Josie listened but was mostly concentrating on the fact that she was walking with the cool crowd and they weren't sending her away. On the other hand, they weren't really talking to her but hey, something was better than nothing right? Once they reached the halls, they all went their own ways. Josie didn't really feel like taking biology again. She hated it when she was a teenager and she could honestly admit that not much had changed. She was mostly anxious because she was meeting Anita, Sheila and Rhoda at that Italian restaurant in the mall. As she was walking down the halls, daydreaming, she was quickly jerked back into reality when Mr.Coulson passed her at a furious rate not paying any attention to her or anything for that matter. She could see that he looked completely flustered and she couldn't help but wonder why.
After Bio, she grabbed her jacket and headed for the mall. She walked into the restaurant and asked the hostess where her friends were sitting. The hostess directed her to their table and she walked over to the table. She quietly laughed at the realization that they had managed to take the table in the very back yet again. Meanwhile, Sam didn't fail to notice her entrance, short pause at the hostess podium and her poised walk over to a table. The four guys, Matt, Jon, Scott and Sam were having an interesting discussion when Matt couldn't help but notice Sam's lack of attention. "Hey, yo Sam! whatcha starin' at?" They all stopped to look in that direction while Sam was turning a new shade of red at having been caught staring at Josie. Scott was the first to speak.
"Hey! That's that new student! Josie something-or-other. Isn't she in one of your classes Sam?"
"Uh......um, yeah, my senior lit class."
Jon was dying to say something. He loved the expression on Sam's face and he wanted to take it to his full advantage. "Oh so that's Josie Geller? I've heard such wonderful things about her." He said all the while looking at Sam who turned to him with a 'what the hell are you doing?' expression. Luckily neither Scott not Matt picked up on any of that exchange but Scott decided to respond to Jon.
"Yeah. Everyone at school says she's brilliant. Ms. Crowe was telling me that she is a genius at calculus and Marilyn was saying she knows all this geographical history and Sam here was saying that she's a brilliant writer. Weren't you Sam?"
"Yeah, she is brilliant." Sam said dreamily but pulled himself out of the trance.
"Well, whoever she is, SHE'S HOT!" Matt finally said. But all three heads turned to him in complete shock. "What?Why are you staring at me like that? She is hot. You can't sit there and tell me you don't think so." He said matter-of-factly. Scott and Jon were staring at him in shock meanwhile Sam was staring in pure jealousy. Matt continued to speak. "Where's she goin' Is she eating alone because I may have to ditch you guys for her. Oh god look at that body!" Sam could barely contain himself. The very idea that someone HIS age would consider hitting on her without a second thought and that he had been torturing himself about for weeks just made him feel confused. The fact that Matt was considering hitting on Josie just made him jealous and angry. Suddenly Scott broke in. "Matt, she looks to be eating over there with those women. Besides I wouldn't hit on her if I were you. She doesn't seem to be one of those women who engage in casual.........relations." He said with a look that showed exactly what he meant.
"Hmmm......well maybe I'll be lucky enough to see her again when she's alone - then I will talk to her." Matt said determined. Sam felt such a need to stop him. The idea of anyone being with Josie other than him was making him sick. He was about to interrupt Matt's lusty stare when Jon got there first.
"Well back on to adult conversations, Scott, weren't you telling me last week about some date on the weekend? You seemed really excited about it. How did it go?"
The four guys then took their attention off of the beautiful teenager in the other booth and focused on their own lives. Josie on the other hand was completely unaware of Sam's presence and didn't notice him until the end of the hour when the four women got up to go back to their jobs. The four men got up a split second before Josie passed their booth. It ended up that Josie ended up walking out of the restaurant right behind him. Anita noticed her friend staring and whispered to her :"Say something!" Josie resisted but Anita did not prevail. "No! This is a golden opportunity.Your talking to him. Rhoda, Sheila and I are going back to the office. We'll see you later.....Talk." She finished pointing at Sam. Then the 3 women walked off. Josie mustered up the nerve to speak.
"Hi Mr. Coulson." She said barely audible. Sam immediately turned around and his level of tranquility dropped instantly. He became really nervous and without trying to stop it, a smile swept across his face.
"Josie! Oh Hi! Were you here alone?" He said, knowing the answer but not knowing what else to discuss. Meanwhile, Jon, Matt and Scott had turned, seen Josie and then talked amongst themselves although Matt kept glancing over at Josie.
"Oh no, I was here with some friends from my neighbourhood." She said pointing at her departing friends.
"Oh. Are you going to be at the seminar today?" Sam asked secretly hoping that she wouldn't because he didn't know if he would be able to handle being in the same room as Josie while that topic was being discussed.
"Yes. I am. You're not teaching it are you?" She asked skeptically.
Sam laughed quietly and started to say "No I-" But then Matt interrupted him.
"Oh! Hi you must be Josie Geller! Sam has mentioned you but he never said that you were this gorgeous!" This had Sam seething. He didn't want Josie thinking that he didn't think she was gorgeous because the truth was that he couldn't think of another woman who was more beautiful. Because of his sudden anger towards Matt, he didn't notice Josie's reaction to the sudden turn of events. She, in turn became flustered and didn't know how to react. This was the first time any man had ever flat out complimented her like that. She started to shift uneasily and said "Uh..thanks." When she spoke, Sam noticed that she seemed totally taken aback which surprised him But at the same time he was ecstatic because he realized that Josie didn't know that she was beautiful. Unlike Lara, who walked around thinking that she was the prettiest person around and now Sam realized how wrong she was. He felt better about himself for being able to see people more for their insides than outsides. Yes, Lara was a very pretty woman, but because of her deceptive nature he didn't find her attractive at all. Josie though, was a gorgeous woman, who was also very kind, and extremely intelligent. He felt his mood lighten just thinking about her. Sam's thoughts then turned to Josie's behaviour. Over the past few weeks, he developed the impression that Josie's self-esteem was extremely low. He couldn't help but wonder why. She was an amazing person and he just assumed that people would notice this. It was a naive thought which he now realized. Just like Sam, Matt wondered why Josie was acting like that too. He tried to get something else out of her. "My name is Matt Riley. I'm friends with Sam here and Mr. Romano? Do you have him as a teacher?" Josie regained a little composure and said " No, he's the guys gym teacher. Mine is Mrs. Schuster."
"Oh. I don't think I know her."
"Oh well, that's okay. You don't work there. You can't know everybody. Well, thanks but I'm gonna be late so I'd better go."Josie said trying to get herself out of the awkward situation she found herself in. She didn't fail to notice that here she was talking to two men her age. One that she was in love with and the other that was calling her beautiful. Sam finally managed to pull himself out of his daydream and said "Well, bye Josie, I'll see you later at the seminar."
"Okay, Bye Mr. Coulson, bye Matt Riley." She said smiling and then walked away. She had to hand it to Anita. Her vast experience with men actually paid off because she was right. Josie did feel better about herself even if she only talked to Sam for a few minutes. She headed out to her car feeling happy about the way her life was going. She finally had the job she wanted. She was finally coming out of her protective shell and enjoying interaction with new exciting people. A man she didn't know called her gorgeous! This was definitely a new place in her life that she didn't expect to ever see 6 months ago.Yes...things were definitely looking better....
The next day Rob decided to put his mission into full gear. He started spreading a bunch of "Josie did this..." rumors in order to get her noticed. He told the guys that she dated the drummer of the band the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies because he had heard that they were their favorite band. he told the girls that Josie was very rich, because he knew that money was one of the most important things in their lives. From what Rob could tell, he was successfull. People were talking about Josie everywhere he went.
Meanwhile, Josie was noticing that people were looking at her more and due to her nature, it made her wary and self-conscious. She was on her way to Mr. Coulson's class when he Rob called her over. She went to talk to him not taking her eyes off of Guy, Jason and Gibby.
"Hey Rob, what's up?"
"Nothin', we're just hangin'. You guys have English next right?"
"Gibby, Josie and I do but this loser over here has gym." He said pointing to Jason. Jason responded in defence. "HEY!! You take gym too, besides I already had English today."
"Who's your teacher?" Gibby asked curious
"Mr. Garrifield. He's soooooo boring."
Josie all the while was looking at Rob who kept egging her on to participate in the conversation.
"Oh really? Too bad you don't have Mr. Coulson. He's a great teacher." Josie managed to say. Gibby and Guy were both looking at her and then Josie felt completely on edge. Was her love for Mr. Coulson really that transparent? Because if it was she knew she was in serious trouble.
Guy who had always noticed Josie because of how much she stuck out in a crowd, noticed her tense facial expression and wrote it off as she was nervous to be talking to the likes of him. He decided to be gracious and relieve her uneasy feeling.
"Yeah, Mr. Coulson's a really interesting teacher. I rarely get bored in that class. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying it's less frequent than with someone like Knox. Oh god how that class sucks." He then looked at Josie for a reaction and saw a touch of relief sweep across her face. He really couldn't quite figure out why popular people scared her so much. He didn't feel like thinking about it though so he pushed it out of his mind.
Little did any of them know but Mr. Coulson had been looking for Josie all morning. When he saw that she was hanging out with that Rob guy she seemed to already know and the popular kids he was thrilled and terrified all at the same time. He knew that Josie wanted to be popular, although he didn't know why, and he was petrified that they were planning something horrible that he knew they were so capable of doing. Anyways, the 2-minute bell went off and the foursome split up to go to their classes. Even though she only said one thing, Josie was thrilled to have been included.
* * * * * *
Once everyone was in English Sam focused on teaching, he had to keep staring at specific object around the room to keep his mind - and eyes - from drifting to Josie. Sam had his whole lesson plan worked out. So all he had to do was take each thing one at a time and he would get through the day just fine. Even when he tried his best, he looked at Josie many times. She was absolutely stunning, she was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt and her hair was in a simple ponytail. 'She looks so natural' Sam thought. He then remembered how Lara required a whole hour every morning to beautify herself. Everytime he thought of Lara, he was overjoyed that she was gone.
Meanwhile the class went alright, no disasters or open showings of his growing attraction to Josie. The bell rang and he was relieved that he didn't have to be so careful of how he acted.
"Oh! By the way! How many students here are participating in the students vs. teachers game on Thursday?" About 6 kids raised their hands and he saw that the only two girls were Becky and Josie. He mentally kicked himself for asking that question because now he was going to wonder for the next two days on what kind of player she would be like. Would she be a beginner? Average? A natural or even an all around all-star athlete! He could tell that he was getting worked up so he decided to get the hell out of there.
"Well, that's great! I'll see you guys then." He said giving his best sly smile. Josie now was anxious to play being grateful for another opportunity to spend time with Sam outside of his classroom. Sam rushed out of the classroom so fast that only a few students had gotten up to leave themselves. He was grateful that Mr. Garrison used his classroom during his free because he didn't feel like bothering with locking it. As Sam bolted out through the hallways, he saw Scott Romano.
"Hey Sam, what's the rush?"
"Oh, hey Scott, I'm feeling a little flustered so I'm gonna go get a coffee during my free, you wanna come?" He asked secretly hoping he wouldn't because Sam didn't want to explain the cause of his anxiety. "Gee, Sam. I wish I could but I've got a bunch of freshmen to teach now. Sorry."
"Oh, hey, don't worry about it. I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yeah man, we still on with Jon and Matt at the restaurant?" He asked just to verify the location of their meeting.
"Yup, I'll see you then." And with that, he bolted for the doors, feeling the heat rise up in him.
Sam got in his car and started to drive, not really knowing where he was going. He found himself heading for the mall with the restaurant where he was going to meet the guys for lunch. He figured he would kill some time in Starbucks, remembering he had missed his morning coffee. Maybe that was why he was so jittery? He wondered. He sat down with his Tall Cappuchino and started worrying. Sam's thoughts were immediately drawn to the fact that he had dug himself into a great big pile of shit and he didn't quite know how he was going to get out. A million questions dragged through his mind. How had he managed to fall in love with a student? Would he ever tell her? How would she react? Should he tell her? What could she possibly be feeling for him? Thinking that she most likely thought of him as nothing more than an English Literature teacher, his facial expression darkened at this realisation. And then another question hit him...hard. Could he live a life without her? Trying to rationalize his thoughts he figured that sure he could. He had done it for 25 years and he could do it again, but inevitably, his true feelings conquered. He had experienced a life with her, he did realize that it was a short time, but he knew that he couldn't go back.....not easily, that was for damn sure. Suddenly a pair of voices interrupted his thoughts:
"Sam?" He looked up to find his friend Jon and his wife Joanna looking down at him.
"Oh! Hey guys! Why aren't you at work?"
"We could ask you the same question." Jon said in a joking manner.
"Oh! Sorry, that was rude, of me. I have a spare period right now so I came here to clear my head. You guys just took long lunches?"
Joanna took her turn. "Yeah, don't worry and I'll shave my head the day that Sam Coulson is rude to someone. I have to ask something. Are you okay Sam? You were looking at that coffee like it was poison." She said with a joking smile.
Sam didn't quite know what to do now. Tell the truth? These were his best friends but what he had to say made him look horrible. He decided to go on the honest path, hoping that in the end, his friends would trust him.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to hate me?"
Jon and Joanna looked at each other skeptically, Sam was obviously very worried about something and he obviously felt that he had done something terrible.
"Sam, we're not gonna hate, you. You're my best friend. We would never abandon you in your time of need which I can quite frankly see is now. So tell me, what'd you do?" Jon said with a devilish, joking smile.
"I'm in love-"
Joanna started laughing. "Ha ha ha ! Sam, why in god's name would we hate you for that?" She then removed her smile in a mockingly serious tone "It's not Lara is it? Because I jumped for joy when you dumped her sorry ass."
Sam couldn't help smiling at his friend, the two of them really had a way of lifting someone's spirits. "No.... you didn't let me finish...but don't worry it's not Lara. I'm just as glad as you are that she's gone. I'm so ashamed that I stayed with her for so long. I was a coward for not ending it sooner."
"That's good...........SO WHO ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH?" Joanna said barely able to contain her joy.
Jon didn't fail to notice the terrified look on Sam's face as he started to respond
"I'm in love..........with a student." Sam immediately hung his head in shame. He didn't want to look at them, afraid of what they must've thought of him. Jon and Joanna had now pulled up chairs and were looking at Sam who was obviously in emotional distress.
"Sam, look at me." He slowly brought his eyes up to Jon who was determined to make him feel better. He couldn't believe that Sam would think that this thing would cause the termination of their friendship.
"I want you to know that you don't have to feel bad about this. As long as you don't like....attack her or something than you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to stress about. I mean what is the age difference, about 8 years? She's 17? You are only 25. Anna Nicole Smith was only like late 20's and she married a 90 year old!" Jon was laughing now, in a vain attempt to lighten his mood. "But seriously Sam, you wouldn't think it was weird if a 30 year old woman hooked up with a 38 year old man would you?"
"That's just the thing Jon! She's not 30, she's a teenager! A 17 year old." He made a small whimper and placed his face in his hands
Joanna, put her hand on his shoulder and took her turn at trying to make him feel better.
"Look Sam, I'll tell you the truth, when I was 15, I had the biggest crush on my physics teacher and he was in his mid-20's. EVERYONE sooner or later in their lives is attracted to someone with a significant age difference. And I'll tell you the truth. I would find it much more bizarre if you were in love with a 60 year old or something."
Sam was feeling much better now. He was happy to find that neither of them were repulsed at his behaviour.
"So Sam!" Joanna started smiling devilishly. She shifted her chair closer and said "Tell me about her."All the while smiling. She watched as a big smile washed over his dark face. He was thrilled at the opportunity to talk about Josie.
"Well, her name is Josie Geller and she just switched to the school in March. She is brilliant! I can't even begin to tell you how smart she is. And she is so nice, I can't get enough of her. When I'm home alone, I'm thinking about her, when I'm out running errands, I'm thinking about her, when I'm watching t.v., I'm thinking about her, when I'm reading, I'm reminded of her and when I'm in class, I'm staring at her." Sam said sighing a huge sigh of relief he felt as if he would explode if he hadn't gotten that out.
"Wow, that's big. I wouldn't suggest staring at her though, that can't be good for your job. But back to Josie. Have you spent any time with her?" Interjected Jon.
"Yeah, the first time I saw her outside of school was at that Delloser Club." I was talking to her and then Lara came back. After about 2 more seconds of talking, Lara left and-"
Jon suddenly interrupted "Oh! Is she the girl that Lara tried to threaten?"
"Yeah! I was so amazed and proud of Josie the way she handled Lara. She totally put her in her place. Lara was FURIOUS! Anyways I broke up with Lara that night. The next night, I went to the Senior Nite at Navy Pier and I saw Josie sitting without a partner in the ferris wheel. The carnie was yelling around for someone to sit with her and she was BEET red. So I went and sat with her."
"WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you-Sam Coulson master of the fear of heights rode a FERRIS WHEEL!?!?!?" Joanna said in total shock
"I know, I can barely believe it myself." Sam didn't really know what else to say. He was ecstatic that his friends didn't abandon him at the drop of a hat.
"Well, guys, I gotta go, I have a huge presentation in 20 minutes but let me just finish by saying Sam, don't you worry about a thing. I find it truly delightful that your fretting about it so much. That's the woman in me talking. And I know that she will find it delightful too." At that point Joanna had gotten up and gathered her things. "Oh! I'm coming to that teachers/students game thing on Thursday, I am NOT gonna pass up an opportunity to meet this goddess!" She said with a huge grin on her face. She had put her coat on and kissed Jon goodbye. She then waved bye to both of them and walked out of the coffee shop.
"Well Sam. How much longer 'til Matt and Scott come?"
"About 15 minutes." Sam said looking down at his watch.
"Great....That'll give us just enough time to talk about what your gonna do." Sam looked at Jon curiously. Did Jon have a plan? But more realistically, did Jon have a plan that Sam would be able to handle? He certainly hoped so.
"I think Sam, that you should just cool your heels for now, no matter what happens, love or no love, your number one priority is to yourself. That means, your job should play a major role in this. And by that I just mean, don't try anything. Don't tell her anything, at least not yet. The school year is over in about a month. And then you can get down on your knees and kiss her feet, it won't matter, if she rejects you, you'll never see her again, if she says yes, then you don't have to like sneak around or anything creepy like that."
"Wow. That's excellent advice. Thanks Jon. I really don't know what I would do without you, I'd probably be this mess under the table by now if it weren't for you and Jo. But don't think that of me. I would NEVER sneak around with her. With anyone. I have no respect for cheaters and liars." Sam looked at his watch. "We should probably head over to the restaurant now." The two guys got up and headed to meet their other friends.
* * *
Josie on the other hand wasn't as lucky as Sam. She had biology instead of a free period. She got up and started walking out of the classroom alone when she inadvertently ended up beside the cool group. She wondered why they bothered to walk out together because they were only together for a minute, maybe a minute and a half. She still felt very uneasy so she remained silent. Kirsten broke the brief silence.
"I hate day twos. It's the only day when we don't have Mr.C's class last period of the day. I HATE when we have to do MORE learning after him, he fills each class with too much info."
Gibby interjected:" Yeah I totally know what you mean. It's too much knowledge first thing in the morning."
Josie listened but was mostly concentrating on the fact that she was walking with the cool crowd and they weren't sending her away. On the other hand, they weren't really talking to her but hey, something was better than nothing right? Once they reached the halls, they all went their own ways. Josie didn't really feel like taking biology again. She hated it when she was a teenager and she could honestly admit that not much had changed. She was mostly anxious because she was meeting Anita, Sheila and Rhoda at that Italian restaurant in the mall. As she was walking down the halls, daydreaming, she was quickly jerked back into reality when Mr.Coulson passed her at a furious rate not paying any attention to her or anything for that matter. She could see that he looked completely flustered and she couldn't help but wonder why.
After Bio, she grabbed her jacket and headed for the mall. She walked into the restaurant and asked the hostess where her friends were sitting. The hostess directed her to their table and she walked over to the table. She quietly laughed at the realization that they had managed to take the table in the very back yet again. Meanwhile, Sam didn't fail to notice her entrance, short pause at the hostess podium and her poised walk over to a table. The four guys, Matt, Jon, Scott and Sam were having an interesting discussion when Matt couldn't help but notice Sam's lack of attention. "Hey, yo Sam! whatcha starin' at?" They all stopped to look in that direction while Sam was turning a new shade of red at having been caught staring at Josie. Scott was the first to speak.
"Hey! That's that new student! Josie something-or-other. Isn't she in one of your classes Sam?"
"Uh......um, yeah, my senior lit class."
Jon was dying to say something. He loved the expression on Sam's face and he wanted to take it to his full advantage. "Oh so that's Josie Geller? I've heard such wonderful things about her." He said all the while looking at Sam who turned to him with a 'what the hell are you doing?' expression. Luckily neither Scott not Matt picked up on any of that exchange but Scott decided to respond to Jon.
"Yeah. Everyone at school says she's brilliant. Ms. Crowe was telling me that she is a genius at calculus and Marilyn was saying she knows all this geographical history and Sam here was saying that she's a brilliant writer. Weren't you Sam?"
"Yeah, she is brilliant." Sam said dreamily but pulled himself out of the trance.
"Well, whoever she is, SHE'S HOT!" Matt finally said. But all three heads turned to him in complete shock. "What?Why are you staring at me like that? She is hot. You can't sit there and tell me you don't think so." He said matter-of-factly. Scott and Jon were staring at him in shock meanwhile Sam was staring in pure jealousy. Matt continued to speak. "Where's she goin' Is she eating alone because I may have to ditch you guys for her. Oh god look at that body!" Sam could barely contain himself. The very idea that someone HIS age would consider hitting on her without a second thought and that he had been torturing himself about for weeks just made him feel confused. The fact that Matt was considering hitting on Josie just made him jealous and angry. Suddenly Scott broke in. "Matt, she looks to be eating over there with those women. Besides I wouldn't hit on her if I were you. She doesn't seem to be one of those women who engage in casual.........relations." He said with a look that showed exactly what he meant.
"Hmmm......well maybe I'll be lucky enough to see her again when she's alone - then I will talk to her." Matt said determined. Sam felt such a need to stop him. The idea of anyone being with Josie other than him was making him sick. He was about to interrupt Matt's lusty stare when Jon got there first.
"Well back on to adult conversations, Scott, weren't you telling me last week about some date on the weekend? You seemed really excited about it. How did it go?"
The four guys then took their attention off of the beautiful teenager in the other booth and focused on their own lives. Josie on the other hand was completely unaware of Sam's presence and didn't notice him until the end of the hour when the four women got up to go back to their jobs. The four men got up a split second before Josie passed their booth. It ended up that Josie ended up walking out of the restaurant right behind him. Anita noticed her friend staring and whispered to her :"Say something!" Josie resisted but Anita did not prevail. "No! This is a golden opportunity.Your talking to him. Rhoda, Sheila and I are going back to the office. We'll see you later.....Talk." She finished pointing at Sam. Then the 3 women walked off. Josie mustered up the nerve to speak.
"Hi Mr. Coulson." She said barely audible. Sam immediately turned around and his level of tranquility dropped instantly. He became really nervous and without trying to stop it, a smile swept across his face.
"Josie! Oh Hi! Were you here alone?" He said, knowing the answer but not knowing what else to discuss. Meanwhile, Jon, Matt and Scott had turned, seen Josie and then talked amongst themselves although Matt kept glancing over at Josie.
"Oh no, I was here with some friends from my neighbourhood." She said pointing at her departing friends.
"Oh. Are you going to be at the seminar today?" Sam asked secretly hoping that she wouldn't because he didn't know if he would be able to handle being in the same room as Josie while that topic was being discussed.
"Yes. I am. You're not teaching it are you?" She asked skeptically.
Sam laughed quietly and started to say "No I-" But then Matt interrupted him.
"Oh! Hi you must be Josie Geller! Sam has mentioned you but he never said that you were this gorgeous!" This had Sam seething. He didn't want Josie thinking that he didn't think she was gorgeous because the truth was that he couldn't think of another woman who was more beautiful. Because of his sudden anger towards Matt, he didn't notice Josie's reaction to the sudden turn of events. She, in turn became flustered and didn't know how to react. This was the first time any man had ever flat out complimented her like that. She started to shift uneasily and said "Uh..thanks." When she spoke, Sam noticed that she seemed totally taken aback which surprised him But at the same time he was ecstatic because he realized that Josie didn't know that she was beautiful. Unlike Lara, who walked around thinking that she was the prettiest person around and now Sam realized how wrong she was. He felt better about himself for being able to see people more for their insides than outsides. Yes, Lara was a very pretty woman, but because of her deceptive nature he didn't find her attractive at all. Josie though, was a gorgeous woman, who was also very kind, and extremely intelligent. He felt his mood lighten just thinking about her. Sam's thoughts then turned to Josie's behaviour. Over the past few weeks, he developed the impression that Josie's self-esteem was extremely low. He couldn't help but wonder why. She was an amazing person and he just assumed that people would notice this. It was a naive thought which he now realized. Just like Sam, Matt wondered why Josie was acting like that too. He tried to get something else out of her. "My name is Matt Riley. I'm friends with Sam here and Mr. Romano? Do you have him as a teacher?" Josie regained a little composure and said " No, he's the guys gym teacher. Mine is Mrs. Schuster."
"Oh. I don't think I know her."
"Oh well, that's okay. You don't work there. You can't know everybody. Well, thanks but I'm gonna be late so I'd better go."Josie said trying to get herself out of the awkward situation she found herself in. She didn't fail to notice that here she was talking to two men her age. One that she was in love with and the other that was calling her beautiful. Sam finally managed to pull himself out of his daydream and said "Well, bye Josie, I'll see you later at the seminar."
"Okay, Bye Mr. Coulson, bye Matt Riley." She said smiling and then walked away. She had to hand it to Anita. Her vast experience with men actually paid off because she was right. Josie did feel better about herself even if she only talked to Sam for a few minutes. She headed out to her car feeling happy about the way her life was going. She finally had the job she wanted. She was finally coming out of her protective shell and enjoying interaction with new exciting people. A man she didn't know called her gorgeous! This was definitely a new place in her life that she didn't expect to ever see 6 months ago.Yes...things were definitely looking better....